Dragonboat Practice 04.18.2012

Learning to steer-- such a joy, or is it more of a headache?  I started this last year (2011) and am progressing along, however since i started close to the end of the season, am not very good at it yet.. but apparently I am good enough to start steering regular practice (rather than the Thurs AM practices, which routinely have 10 or less people show up).  Last week was my first steering session of the season, which was really informative.  I realized (yet again), that:

• I cant steer really well yet
• I cant wear shoes -- my arches hurt if i am wearing the keens
• I can steer and not hit anything
• getting out of the slip is hard, so is getting back in

well the good news is it was rainy and thus one of the more experienced steerers decided to take us out and behind the barge that was dredging the Baltimore harbor.. so i got to paddle.. the bad news is we went out to paddle and now i'm sore.

04.17.2012 Dragonboat Team Runs

So this past winter we started a new Dragon boat running group.  Why on earth would we run in addition to all the things we do?  It helps with our endurance apparently.  So as some of you know, i broke my foot back in November and attempted a team run back in March and it was sort of successful, except for the fact that my foot was sore for a week after -- oops?  Recently, i decided that i needed to get gait tested and since I was picking up compression socks from  Charm City Run after the fiance did the Cherry blossom race 2 weeks ago I decided while i was there I might as well get gait tested.

Now gait testing is not a fast process, first you get sized for shoes (it helps if you already know your size-- which i did) and then we did a walk test.  Basically, I walked from one end of the store to the other and the sales associate watched me walk as to figure out how i tread.  She basically told me that the running shoes i was using (Asics Gel Nimbus) were not the right shoes for me because I pronate -- and i needed a shoe that would correct that.  Plus apparently  i have lower arches than normal so those shoes wouldnt be really good for both reasons.  So we ended up trying on 5+ different shoes, each time, getting back on the treadmill and getting video taped.  5 shoes, at least 10-15 mins per shoe, you do the math -- not a fast process.  I ended up narrowing it down to 2 different shoes a different style of Asics (Kayanos) or a pair of Saucony.  I felt that the Asics didnt have weird padding on the bottom which the Saucony did(and apparently this is what happens -- you find a brand and the padding is similar so you gravitate towards those shoes naturally) so I ended up buying the Kayanos.  But, because they are different (they correct my foot treading) I cant wear them on longer runs yet -- just short distances, which is clearly not a 50 minute run, so I decided to wear what my feet have been use to -- the Nimbus.  Clearly, that was a good idea since I ended up running 4.5+ miles yesterday in 50 mins, not my 10 min/mile pace but I did walk a bit on the run back from the inner harbor so that probably added more time.  But, this week I'm going to start running with the Kayanos a bit, probably break them in slowly -- by adding them to my daily run (which i'm suppose to be doing, but really failing at right now).  If i run 1 mile/day in them they should be broken in soon, right?

Daily Arsenal 04.18.2012

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Race Practice 04.16.2012

Well, yesterday's temperature was a blamy 86 F at about what noon?  So we had a great day for dragon boat practice.  We started the afternoon/evening out with some fun warmups that included:

• suicide runs (i did burpees instead-- on account of not wanting to run in keens)
• squats - 30?
• oblique planks?  (the ones with pushups in between)- 20 each side
• dips - 20
• oblique reverse lunges

Then we went out on the water for about an hour -- close to 1 full boat of people showed up which is nice so early in the season.  First we did about 10 mins of paddling warmup which consisted of 50-75-100% intensity drills up and down the cove.   Then we worked on some rotation drills -- which apparently i still cant do right *whines*  i keep going up and down not front and back and i cant feel myself doing it which is part of the problem.  We did some fun pyramids (100% for 30 strokes, 10 strokes of rest repeat x6) not quite sure how this is a pyramid i guess but its more of a intensity drill *shrug* it was billed as a pyramid.   We repeated that drill quite a bit ( i believe 4 instances at differing intensities just for fun)  Then we practiced some start pulls to get the boat up and basically "surfing" above the wake.  I still need to work on feathering because the poor coach that was sitting in front of me was splashed SO much :(  So i guess at some point probably this weekend i'll go to the boat and practice early in the wee hours of the AM before practice so that i can get the stroke better.. and maybe actually right for once?

Daily Arsenal 04.17.2012

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Pilot Dr. Grip ball point pen with black ink.. i guess fine tip but not sure since ink is not labeled.

Knitting project update 04.16.2012

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So after thinking about making and actually finishing my scarf, i decided with the slew of babies showing up at work and amongst my friends that I would knit a baby blankie or 2 for people.  I found the simplest diagonal baby blanket on ravelry and downloaded the pattern.  This is 1 of 2 blankets that i'm working on, same pattern similar color.. yes i love blue :)  too bad i still dont know if the babies these are intended for are little boys or girls.. oh wells!  Their respective parents just better appreciate the baby blanket(s) oh and 1 of them has to be completed before May 5th.  So recently in all my non-existent spare time i've been working on baby blankets.. so that I will have at least 1 of them done.  Eeks! thats only what?  3 weeks away?

Dragon Boat Races

So part of being the race committee is to register for the races that we do every year and then coordinate the race schedule etc.  So this is what Baltimore is signed up for currently:

• DC Dragonboat Festival, May 19-20 (Washington, DC): BCS team only
• Independence Regatta, June 2 (Philadelphia, PA): 1 mixed team
• Baltimore DB Challenge June 23 (Tide Point, Baltimore, MD): we're hosting.. i'm probably on chase boat
• Fingerlakes Int'l Dragonboat, SUP, OC festival, July 14-15 (Ithaca, NY): 1 mixed team
• DC National Harbor DB Festival, August 25 (Washington, DC -- really PG County but whatever): 1 mixed
• Mercer County Dragon boat Festival, Sept 19? (Princeton, NJ): 1 mixed
• Philadelphia Int'l Dragonboat Festival, October 6? (Philadelphia, PA): 2 mixed teams, 1 womens

only problem is, i've yet to really register for Fingerlakes, National Harbor races because they are not accepting online payments so i've done the prelim work but still have to get our treasurer to submit the check....